Moneyball Update – Week 17

The Falcons offense really struggled early on in this game. Mularkey tried the no huddle in the second quarter to jump start it. It was better, but the Falcons didn’t get on the board until midway through the quarter on a Bryant field goal, on a drive that was kicked off by a pick thrown by Ryan that didn’t count because of a ticky-tack defensive holding call on Ronde Barber. Overall, Ryan didn’t have a great game. He made some poor throws at times, but he wasn’t bad because he made some really good throws as well. Snelling capped off a strong season with a big game. He got $8 of his earnings on the teams final drive as they were running out the clock. White was the only receiver that really showed up, although Peelle made some nice plays. Not sure why the Falcons offense was so stagnant. The running game wasn’t great in the first half, and Gonzalez was nursing a sore calf, but he played quite a bit. It just seemed out of sync, which looked to be a common theme for this offense in road games.

PLAYER

PASS

RUSH

REC

BLOCK

SPEC

PEN

TOTAL

Jason Snelling

$0

$20

$1

-$1

$0

$0

$20.00

Matt Ryan

$7

$0

$0

$0

$0

$0

$7.00

Roddy White

$0

$0

$6

$0

$0

$0

$6.00

Justin Peelle

$0

$0

$5

$0

$0

$0

$5.00

Ovie Mughelli

$0

$1

$0

$4

$0

$0

$5.00

Jerious Norwood

$0

$3

$2

-$1

$0

$0

$4.00

Justin Blalock

$0

$0

$0

$3

$0

$0

$3.00

Todd McClure

$0

$0

$0

$2

$0

$0

$2.00

Sam Baker

$0

$0

$0

$2

$0

-$1

$1.00

Quinn Ojinnaka

$0

$0

$0

$2

$0

-$1

$1.00

Tyson Clabo

$0

$0

$0

$2

$0

-$1

$1.00

Tony Gonzalez

$0

$0

$1

$0

$0

$0

$1.00

Michael Jenkins

$0

$0

$1

$0

$0

$0

$1.00

Marty Booker

$0

$0

-$1

$0

$0

$0

-$1.00

Eric Weems

$0

$0

$0

$0

$0

-$2

-$2.00

Defensively, the Falcons had a solid game. They shut down the Bucs ground game, despite their commitment to run the ball. They forced some turnovers on Freeman because they were able to pressure him. The picks by Owens and Grimes probably were the biggest reasons why the Falcons won, because they were able to convert them into 10 points. Abe had a good game, pressuring the quarterback a lot. Babs, Davis, and Biermann also carried their weight up front as well with solid performances. Owens got beat twice on the Bucs only offensive scoring drive, but came back with the pick the next series. He also made plays vs. the run.